Personally I believe marijuana business should be run as not for profit businesses(ie pay your employees and the rest gets reinvested in the store somehow or the government takes it)

Why?

Shouldn't they be run like alcohol? And that's for profit. It is a recreational business, after all.

Medical only shops could be different though.

And when it comes to following the alcohol model, I hope they don't duplicate the two-tier distribution system. Where manufacturers can't sell to accounts, but have to sell to middlemen who can sell to the accounts. It just jacks up prices and lets the government double dip on the taxes. And when it gets big, it just adds a lot of inefficiencies into the system (at least for local/smaller manufacturers).

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I would like to see the money be spread around between alot of people, as opposed to big business get it's slimy hands on the product, then wall street profiting off of it.

Basically allow people to grow up to 100 plants be able to sell directly to the non-profits(which allows for many people to get work/jobs in the growing industry)

In the case of the non-profits, I think if each store is individually run and you heavily regulate each store(ie how many employees a store should have, how store run(security measures), amount of cash an employees can make, etc) it also spreads out the jobs instead of one big chain store taking over the business and paying it's employees minimum wage. It's basically a case keeping things small so alot of people can have good paying jobs, it also forces stores to invest money in the towns they are in when employees can make a great salary but only to a certain point and they have to spend that extra money somehow.

Cynicism is not maturity, do not mistake the one for the other. If you truly cannot accept a story where someone does the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, that says far more about who you are than these characters. - Greg Rucka

New York is set to soon become the 21st state to legalize medical marijuana use. Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce an executive action this week that will loosen laws on use of the drug, allowing it to be distributed to patients with serious illnesses at 20 select hospitals. Despite the governor’s very public opposition to marijuana legalization in the past, this turnabout plan will give patients who suffer from illness such as cancer, glaucoma or other diseases limited access to the substance, and could initiate future broadening of medical marijuana laws.

According to The New York Times, Governor Cuomo is bypassing legislature and introducing the policy action based on a provision in the 1980 public health law called the Antonio G. Olivieri Controlled Substance Therapeutic Research Program. Olivieri was a New York City councilman who died at the age of 39 from a brain tumor and used marijuana to ease the affects of his chemotherapy treatment.

Governor Cuomo’s administration plans to have the infrastructure for the new program in place by this year. However, before the plan can move full steam ahead, there are a few hurdles the New York State Department of Health must address, including the selection of hospitals, regional diversity assurance planning and policy restrictions to prevent abuse. Furthermore, it has yet to be determined where the medical marijuana will be sourced as state and federal laws prohibit the growing of marijuana in any capacity.

According to Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance who recently spoke with The New York Times on the action, “Governor Cuomo remains committed to developing the best medical marijuana law in the country and that’s going to require legislative action.”

Well that’s a large question, isn’t it? Because you’re talking about recreation, which everyone is in favor of. You are also talking about something that has been illegal for so many years, and marijuana is responsible for such a large part of the prison population, for the crime of self-medication. And it takes millions and billions of dollars by incarcerating people for this crime against oneself as best can be determined. People are realizing that the war on drugs is a failure, that the amount of money spent, you could have bought all the drugs with that much money rather than create this army of people and incarcerated people. I think the terror of marijuana was probably overstated. I don’t think people are really concerned about it the way they once were. Now that we have crack and crystal and whatnot, people don’t even think about marijuana anymore, it’s like someone watching too many videogames in comparison. The fact that states are passing laws allowing it means that its threat has been over-exagerated. Psychologists recommend smoking marijuana rather than drinking if you are in a stressful situation. These are ancient remedies, alcohol and smoking, and they only started passing laws against them 100 years ago.

“As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol," Obama told Remnick.

When asked if he believes marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, Obama said it is less damaging "in terms of its impact on the individual consumer."

"It’s not something I encourage, and I’ve told my daughters I think it’s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy," he added.

Obama stating the obvious. Nice to hear that coming from the President of the United States though.

Basically, while not making it legal to smoke, he wants to reduce penalties and even remove jail time, at least for minor offenses. Favoring fines, counseling, or programs to prison.

I'm fine with this as a step, especially in a red state like Texas. If smoking was an addictive problem (not saying it is), programs are a much better alternative than prison, which isn't going to do anything but push people into more drug use to 'escape'.

Also helps empty out those prisons of people who don't deserve to be there. Less overcrowding. Less taxes needed. And better use of taxes.

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We're gonna see more and more of this. Lot of money to be made and politicians will want to test the waters and see if easing up on their marijuana stance will affect their approval from their base. At least, that's what I think.